Who are you?

We all like to think we know who we are.

However once you start with a new venture such as creating an online business you really start to look long and hard at who you are, your beliefs, your skills, your abililities ... and sometimes your beliefs about yourself really get questioned.

There have been times throughout my journey of creating an online business when I have spent time questioning my abilities and sometimes when we are faced with a dilemma about what we are capable of, we tend to compare ourselves with others and their progress. And we usually come out worse off.

What we need to remember is that we are taking charge of our lives by taking action. That action is usually motivated by a need to create more fulfillment in our lives, and unfortunately most people would rather stay unfulfilled than make a change.

The fears that people face around change have been well documented - fear of failure, fear of loss of income, fear of what others think, fear of rejection ... the list goes on and go but really what most of these fears come down to is that change means moving outside of what we believe about ourselves - our personal identity.

Often we identify ourselves with our job title - a nurse, an engineer, a teacher, an accountant - and that is how we describe ourselves to others. This is such a limiting belief - we are so much more than the jobs we do - but often it is easier to describe ourselves this way as this is what people can relate to and it gives us an identity.

Once we start to expand ourselves beyond our job title, people near us can get scared. They say they are trying to protect us but the reality is they are scared of who we might become, how we might change and perhaps they fear how they would fit into our new lives once we start growing and learning.

When you start learning new skills such as an online business education, you remember just how exciting it is to be learning something new. If gives you new focus, it opens you up to all sorts of knowledge which you have never been exposed to before and it gives you confidence as you can feel yourself growing and expanding.

This new knowledge also changes the way you see the world and how you fit in it. It's interesting as it's a subtle movement but slowly you realize that some aspects of your life that you once thought important lose their attraction, and are replaced with new possibilities. This might sound a bit airy-fairy but it's true!

Who we are will always keep evolving as we move through life - our job is keep learning about ourselves and be open to new opportunities when we are ready, and when they present themselves.